TEDx is coming to Oak Park and River Forest High School on Feb. 7.
TEDxOakPark, a local organization, is planning to host an event called TEDxOakParkYouth, in which students at Oak Park and River Forest High School run, produce and perform talks.
Although adult coordinators are involved, the event is intended to be mostly student-led. Angie Hawkins, who is the director of student activities at OPRF and is assisting in setting up the event, explained, “They need students to actually help run and record the show, they need students to help with community marketing and reach out. And then they need students to help with designing the brochure and the planning, and then actually people night of to be greeters and take tickets, all that kind of stuff for the event.”
This event comes after two other recent TEDxOak Park events (TED stands for technology, entertainment, design, but the popular talks cover a wide range of other subjects). TEDxOakParkSalon and TEDxOakParkWomen. OakParkWomen ran from 2015 to 2022, and OakParkSalon was held during the pandemic as a virtual event in which groups in virtual meetings watched TED talks and then discussed what they had learned in breakout rooms.
Planning for TEDxOakParkYouth began in April, but Janna Fiester, an Oak Park resident and the lead organizer of TEDxOakPark, said she got the idea much earlier. “About eight years ago, I went to New York City to do my TED training, and I met some people from Kansas City who had done a youth event,” she said. “I thought, ‘Wow, that’d be a really great way to give back to the youth of our community.’ “
The talks are intended to empower young people, according to Fiester. “At the school, a lot of youth see TED talks, and they learn a lot from them,” she said. “To then see themselves and actually have ideas that they feel that they want to share? I mean, that’s huge.”
Fiester also said that many forms of creativity are welcome and encouraged in addition to traditional TED-style talks. “Not only do you have the people on the stage doing their talks, but we are also looking for people who want to do a video instead of being on stage, or a musical performance, or a dance performance, so we’re still looking at those kinds of things.”
She also mentioned that the event would partner with local businesses which could put pop-ups outside the Little Theater where the talks will take place. Although the event is still in the early stages of planning, organizers are optimistic about its potential. According to Fiester, about 10 students have already volunteered to be speakers, and they are looking for more.
Meridian Herman, a co-organizer of the event, said in an email, “I’ve seen how multigenerational collaboration can change how we view the world and ourselves, and I can’t wait to see what happens next with this TEDx movement!”
